Nutrition – The Basics

Our priorities lie in our ability to think clearly, walk at leisure and remain free from pain. Most chronic degenerative illnesses have their orgins in the body’s inability to digest either protein, carbs, fat or a combination of these. This document is designed to dispel common misconceptions about the science of nutrition.

Some useful definitions and facts:

Nutrition: The science of food, and the process by which an organism ingests, digests, absorbs, transports, and excretes food substances.

Food: Food is defined as a substance that has proteins, carbohydrates, fats, enzymes, vitamins and minerals that are essential for the body to sustain growth, repair and to furnish energy to the body. The body is automatically set up to digest food and anything that does not meet this definition is a drug. A 500 mg vitamin C tablet is considered a drug. The body has to send this vitamin C to the liver for detoxification. The end result of this process is that very little if any of this form of vitamin C id useful to the body. This means that supplementing your diet with traditional vitamin and mineral pills probable does little to improve your health.

Drugs masquerading as food: Drugs are anything that does not meet the definition of food. The Vitamin C stated above is a great example of a drug masquerading as a food. A drug by definition has to be detoxified by the body. Much more energy has to be utilized bt the body to detoxify drugs as opposed to digesting foods.

Pharmaceutical drugs: These drugs are highly concentrared, man made products that immediately increase or decrease a response in the body. The mechanism by which most drugs work is to inhibit enzymatic action at the cellular level. It is the inhibition of enzymatic activity that leads the body to produce unwanted side effects. Our office is not anti-drug; in fact pharmaceuticals are necessary at times. We are against the excessive utilization and over prescribing of pharmaceuticals.

Homeostasis: a good definition of homeostasis is the body’s ability to maintain an equilibrium or status quo. Body temperature, acid base balance, blood pressure and the constitruents of what is in the blood stream are what the body is most interested in maintaining.

The Hypothalamus: This is the only portion of the brain that is outside the blood brain barrier. The hypothalamus maintains homeostasis in the body by continually monitoring all homeostatic functions listed above. If you cannot digest carbohydrates, thehypothalamus will tell you to eat more carbs, also known as a craving. Cravings are a product of the body’s inability to digest whatever the craving is for. Cravings cannot be turned off by will power. Cravings can only be eradicated by digesting your food. If you are overweight digesting food is the first step to weight loss.

Protein: Proteins are very large molecules consisting of amino acids, sulfur, iron and phosphorus. Protein is used by the body for tissue growth and repair. Protein is also used for energy production. Insulin, epinephrine and thyroxin are all made od protein. Between carbs, and fat, protein is the only substance that is utilized directly to maintain homeostasis. Protein digestion problems and deficiencies lead to severe health consequences over time. Antibodiec and white blood cell function are protein based. Protein deficiency leads to immune system compromise; one of the most devastating results of protein deficiency. A women’s digestive pathway is not as strong as a man’s when digesting protein. In fact, the vast majority of women we see are protein deficient. Protein also carries calcium in the blood stream. Their relationship is directly proportional. If you are protein deficient, you have to be calcium deficient. Supplementing with calcium will do little to correct your problem.

Carbohydrate: Carbs are named for their hydrates of carbon structure. There are three types of Carbs: fibre, starches, and sugars. Carbohydrates are used for energy. They do not take part in tissue growth and repair and do not help maintain homeostasis. There are two classifications of carbs, simple and complex. Complex carbs are found in fresh fruits and vegetables, and are deficient in most people’s diets. Simple carbs are refined sugars found in junk foods. It is estimated that the average person consumes well over 100 pounds of sugar per year.The brain functions on glucose, which is the end result of carbohydrate metabolism. Carbohydrate digestion deficiency problems lead to many symptoms, most notably depression and psychological issues.

Fats/Lipids: Lipids are molecules made of carbon and hydrogen. They are soluble (capable of being dissolved) in either or chloroform, not water. Lipids are used as a source of energy by the body for growth and repair. They do not help to maintain homeostasis in the body. Since, lipids are not soluble in water, the major constituent of blood; they must be surrounded by protein to be transported in the blood. HDL stands for high density lipoprotein, meaning a lot of protein is needed to carry this type of lipid. LDL’s or low density loioproteins are lipids that need ledd protein to carry them in the blood stream. Cholesterol is made of fat and is essential for the formation of sex hormones, bile salts, and myelin sheaths that surround and protect nerve fibers.

Cholesterol is so important to the body that it is made by every cell in the body. A total cholesterol level on blood work is a number derived by adding up HDL, LDL and VLDL. 95% of your cholesterol level is what your body is producing. Less than 5% of your total cholesterol is dietary. If your cholesterol is high dietary modification will do little to lower your numbers. The answer to battling Cholesterol is in the delivery system of fats, namely protein. If your body is protein deficient the hypothalamus will not give up the protein to cover the lipids that transport cholesterol. Remember, from the protein section above it is more important for the hyporthalamus to produce insulin that it is to “protein coat” the fat for transport in the body. The end result will be that your HDL will go down, your LDL will go up and your total cholesterol will go up.

Blood Work: Please review the definition of homeostasis above. Blood work is done to determine how well your hypothalamus is maintaining homeostasis. In a chronic dietary deficient state the body, specifically the hypothalamus, has to maintain homeostasis. For example: if you are protein deficient or cannot digest protein properly the hypothalamus has to direct the body to take protein out of the body’s tissues (self cannibalization) to maintain the protein levels in the blood. You can be very protein deficient and still have a total blood protein level that is within normal limits. It is not until the body cannot rip any more protein out of the tissues that the total protein starts to decrease on blood work. You may not see your total protein decrease on your blood work for decades but your body has been protein deficient all that time. Blood work is very important and should be done on a consistent basis, but it is not a sensitive indicator of your nutritional status.

24 Hour Urinalysis: A Medical Urinalysis is primarily used to detect kidney disease and diabetes. Urine is a water product that is not being monitored by the hypothalamus, thus providing a better test than blood work. A 24 hour nutrition based urinalysis gives us the opportunity to see what the body is holding onto and what it is dumping in abnormal quantities.Our lab first screens for pathology and then gives us very important insight into the digestion of foods, the absorption of those foods and the elimination of foods.

Bowel/body Toxicity: Toxicity means the degree to which something is poisonous. Toxicity in the body can come from many sources; drugs,alcohol,smoking and the environment. The primary source of toxicity in the body is the body’s reabsorption of partially and undigested protein, carbs and fat into the blood stream. Undigested food in the bowel is eaten by bacteria, yeast and parasites. Thesr parasites eliminate their waste into the bowel and the body reabsorbs this toxic waste futher compounding the problem.